Even way back in 2013, the Government’s ‘Construction 2025’ vision proposed that construction should no longer be characterised by ‘late delivery, cost overruns, commercial friction, late payment’.
But they don’t have to be.If the construction process can be transformed into the streamlined and predictable assembly of pre-manufactured parts, combined with on-site construction processes that are carefully managed to add the maximum value, much greater productivity can result.. To give a slightly left-field example, consider a circus tent.
Typically, these large structures are put up overnight by a small team of trained operatives.In a budget-conscious industry, every hour counts, so assembly is planned to be as quick as possible, and disassembly is just as quick.It would be even quicker if the tent was pre-erected, of course, but this doesn’t make sense from a transportation and logistics perspective.
Instead, they use a component kit-of-parts that is easily handled and takes up very little space during transportation.A permanent building may have different drivers, but lessons can still be learned from highly efficient on-site works such as the circus tent.. One aim of a fully considered DfMA strategy is to enable smooth running of the construction site.
To create a well-orchestrated assembly line with productive workers carrying out pre-determined, standardised and well-understood tasks in predictable timeframes..
In short, we want construction sites to be more like factories.. Off-site and modular construction: are factories really all that great?.We are starting to invest in a changing world.
Leaders and regimes will come and go, but this matrix of positive intent and action is what will truly drive the next 50 years..The third reason for hope came to me in maybe the most unexpected place: a two-hour stand in the toilet on a train with five others, due to huge overcrowding.
Of course, there was griping, anger, and frustration about the situation.There was also a humble reflection that our plight was nothing like those stuck in conflict and humanitarian disasters.